Jakarta fails to reform bureaucracy<\/p>\n
By Marco Kusumawijaya<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): All city problems that bedevil Jakarta stem from
\nits incompetent governance and lack of leadership integrity.<\/p>\n
In fact, learning from other cities' development, local and
\nforeign, there is no single condition in Jakarta that cannot be
\nimproved provided that its bureaucracy manages to reform itself.<\/p>\n
As global competition lurks, Jakarta is under pressure from
\nnumerous urban problems both chronic and urgent in nature.<\/p>\n
The listing of best Asian cities in the Dec. 15, 2000 issue of
\nAsiaweek ranks Jakarta a lowly 28th out of 40 others. It only
\njust behind Manila (25th) but far behind Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh
\n(17th), Bandar Seri Begawan and Kuala Lumpur (7th), and Singapore
\n(third). Jakarta only excels over cities like Phnom Penh (31st)
\nand Vientiane (36th).<\/p>\n
No offense is intended but it is certainly humiliating to find
\nJakarta in the league of these two cities.<\/p>\n
The survey also recorded a rise in the unemployment rate in
\n2000 compared to the previous year from 12 percent to 16.8
\npercent. Annual income per capita declined to US$ 7,269 from
\n$7,665; GDP growth dropped to negative 1.3 percent from positive
\n3.1 percent; and commuting time has become as high as 79 minutes.<\/p>\n
The methodology and the accuracy of the survey is open to
\ndebate but the truth remains: Jakarta is rated very low in a
\nweekly that gives basic information to global investors.<\/p>\n
In the public transportation sector, for example, commuters
\nare well aware that there is no hope for improvement even with an
\naddition of 4,000 buses imported from China.<\/p>\n
Acquiring new buses won't solve the problem, if a better
\nsystem and management are not installed.<\/p>\n
Flood-prone areas are not shrinking, if anything, they are
\nenlarging. Spatial planning is not conceived to support
\nfundamental improvement in the mass transport system.<\/p>\n
Indeed only a conforming spatial and land-use plan can support
\na paradigm shift in transport planning: from demand-led to
\ndemand-control approach.<\/p>\n
We are not even sure that the less than sound plan will not be
\nmade even worse by violations that may be justified in the next
\nplan. Environmental problems, such as the lowering of the water
\ntable, diminution of mangrove forest and others, requires even
\ntougher management.<\/p>\n
The decline in the number of housing stocks in the city with
\nconcurrent flight of the middle class to the suburbs will soon,
\nfor the first time, present Jakarta with the classic problem of
\nurban center degeneration, as it will lose an important tax base
\nand motivation for maintenance.<\/p>\n
Density is often claimed as the source of problems in a
\nmetropolis like Jakarta. Whereas the reverse is also true:
\ndensity is a source of life for a metropolis.<\/p>\n
Density, when smartly managed, will be a blessing, as it will
\nnot just be 'numbers', but more specifically, enriching
\ndiversity.<\/p>\n
The renowned, Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas celebrates this as
\n'programmatic density' in his theory and works. Indeed people
\nmigrate to Jakarta for both productive (work, opportunities,
\ncareer paths) as well as consumptive ('city lights', among
\nothers) diversified density.<\/p>\n
Prof. Peter Hall, a British historian of urban civilization
\nand planning theories, in his book Cities in Civilization (1998)
\ndiscovered that diversified density is crucial for innovative and
\ncreative processes, comparable to bio-diversity and cross-
\nbreeding that yield an ever improved species.<\/p>\n
He argues that in their respective golden years the
\nmetropolises of the world have had diversified density and
\ninteraction as key success factors.<\/p>\n
Berlin, for example, in the period 1920-1933 became the world
\ncapital in terms of all forms of art and economy. Its density was
\n608 persons per hectare.<\/p>\n
Jakarta's density is less than 150 per hectare. The number and
\nvariety of print-media in Berlin during the period showed an
\nintensity of communication among the population. It surpassed
\nthat of any other city. Berliner Morgenpost alone has a
\ncirculation of 600,000 (for a city of 4 million people).<\/p>\n
But of course density of population, capital, and ideas are
\nonly useful when mobilized into channeled potentials. This is why
\nwe need popular participation in the governance of Jakarta.<\/p>\n
It is not only because participation is a basic social-
\npolitical right of the citizens (whose etymological origin means
\nthose of a city), but also because it is the only way to nurture
\nbroad-based creativity.<\/p>\n
Moreover, some fundamental decisions that need to be made,
\nsuch as on the integration of land-use and public transport plan,
\nmust be based on wide-range consensus to guarantee success at
\nall. This requires that the citizens be well informed as early on
\nas possible.<\/p>\n
This way they will be empowered and motivated to think
\ncollectively. They should not be told only after decisions are
\nmade in a fait accompli manner through a misguided process of so
\ncalled 'socialization', which is itself an abused concept.<\/p>\n
The New Order has indeed turned off diversity and initiative,
\neven though Ali Sadikin (Jakarta governor from 1966 to 1977) had
\nencouraged them in his own style. The reformation movement should
\nbe an opportunity to revive them, and to harness a participatory
\nprocess to establish 'new deals', both horizontally and
\nvertically.<\/p>\n
We need to also broaden our concept of urbanization to include
\nmore social and cultural events. This has taken us some time to
\nrealize, after the developmentalist and reductionist concept of
\nurbanization imposed by the uninspiring regime.<\/p>\n
The people not only have a right to a city that does not only
\nexpand endlessly in an ad-hoc manner but they also need to know
\nhow to build, inhabit, and use the city in a civilized way.<\/p>\n
One needs to learn to be an urban dweller, to behave and
\nsocialize in a way urbanites should. Urban spaces will have to be
\npregnant with clear, qualified architectural concepts to
\nfacilitate that learning process.<\/p>\n
One example, one cannot be forced to reduce the use of private
\ncars unless sidewalks are made convenient, safe, nice to look at,
\nand given sufficient space.<\/p>\n
Architecture, urban design, design competition, urban
\nlandscape, need to be an obsession within the metropolitan
\nsociety, if it is to compete at all -- with at least the other
\nAsian capitals.<\/p>\n
Efforts must start somewhere. Could it be that transparent and
\nparticipatory urban governance naturally pre-requires a clean
\nhouse of bureaucracy?<\/p>\n
Our mistake so far has been to believe that political change
\nwill automatically bring changes at the bureaucratic level. Of
\ncourse new legislators and governors have been elected through of
\na 'new system'.<\/p>\n
But the situation is akin to garbage in garbage out!<\/p>\n
Decentralization and autonomy have been put into motion. But
\nthere is no significant change in the daily administration of the
\ncity.<\/p>\n
The political leaders have failed either to assimilate the
\nspirit of reform or to channel it into actions. This is indeed
\nthe greatest delusion. While in other countries significant
\nchanges are easily brought about with even less dramatic
\npolitical struggle, here it is business as usual.<\/p>\n
The only way out is then to balance it with horizontal
\ndecentralization and autonomy: citizens need to get involved
\ndirectly with daily decision making processes.<\/p>\n
This can be done by way of public debates both with the
\nlegislative as well as executive bodies; participatory, bottom-up
\nprogramming and budgeting; and other forms of participation.<\/p>\n
In summary: a more populist democracy. Why not? It is the
\n'demand' side that needs be made dynamic, not the supply, as this
\nlatter side will only follow the first. Parties will have to make
\nefforts to prepare better candidates, when the citizens' demand
\nincreases.<\/p>\n
The writer is an architect-urbanist.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jakarta-fails-to-reform-bureaucracy-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }